the mesas edition of the on the show. welcome to the lower show where we get the real headlines with none of the mersey we can live in washington d.c. now tonight we've got a special show for you my wall street is going strong in new york but right here in washington occupy d.c. is joining with another movement that starts today october two thousand and eleven protesting the ten years of war in afghanistan and the corporate control of our country where you have interviews from on the ground with organizer kevin zeese and

journalist and author chris hedges but a number of economists have suggested for giving up personal debts as a way to jumpstart the economy get that sounds really nice but is it actually possible and iran dazzles going to join us for that one we'll have all that and more for tonight including a dose of happy hour but first let's take a look at the mainstream media has decided to miss. sallie last night we heard the news that just fifty six years old steve jobs apple co-founder of passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer innovations changed the way we live work play and communicate steve jobs died too soon he's the man who brought us in the words of buzz lightyear to infinity and beyond he's been compared to legendary innovators thomas edison henry ford walt disney has value that this area would be so much different. you know without or without steve jobs he was just always turn of

a ship of somebody. also look at the newest little building parts and what could you make with those he had the impact on our lives with ten years of almost unmatchable products and innovation and i mean let's face it life in one thousand nine hundred eighty six when he co-founded apple in his garage is a far cry from life in two thousand and eleven. steve jobs really was an incredible innovator he had the knack for marketing that made you want to product that you didn't even know that you need it and he should hold a place in history as a key player in the technological revolution that we saw over the last thirty years let me provide a little bit of commentary for a minute what i think the mainstream media missed in commemorating this man so for starters the second the news broke last night coverage of everything else stopped including that of occupy wall street where the biggest numbers have yet to come out where police got violent and we're going to get into the details of that later but then i saw the commentators come on and talk about how the products that job spearheaded that somehow touched us all i pods i phones i pads handheld technology

computers right at your fingertips and i heard them commemorating how this type of technology is now helped fuel revolutions real political change in arab nations steve jobs didn't invent twitter or facebook but i think it's fair to say that he played a part in getting smartphones and personal computers to a wider consumer base so then well once you have those devices you could use twitter and facebook or whatever else to communicate spread messages organize rallies to get more people involved what would it become revolution now our mainstream media celebrates that you saw the coverage of egypt you saw the coverage of tunisia and the support that they gave but when it comes to the movements here in the u.s. we don't quite see the same thing do we just remember that clip that i played yesterday now cnn's erin burnett mocking the protesters for having math books and i phones and of course lululemon yoga pants so why would it's happening somewhere else in the arab world we think that it's magnificent that these people have smartphones and laptops and we cry out when their governments try to shut down

social networks or the internet but when it's the american people that are discouraged that are frustrated with the greed of the corruption they see in their own country and asking for change it's not ok how dare they use technology to start a movement in this digital age it's just hypocritical it's condescending it's just one more thing that makes the mainstream media look bad one more thing where they miss. well it's now the twentieth day of the occupy wall street protests and it's clear the movement has changed the protest began in september just a few thousand showed up now the movement is growing zuccotti park is filled with more protesters by the day and campsites are popping up with stations for media medical supplies and food as you mentioned yesterday support has been growing to a few major labor unions are on board and a.f.l.-cio president richard trumka also spoke out in favor of occupy wall street some politicians have also publicly

supported the message of the protests people like congress members don't is considered keith ellison russ feingold and even g.o.p. presidential candidates buddy roemer and ron paul now the number of arrests have increased over the past few weeks as well most notably the seven hundred people who were detained while on the brooklyn bridge having a standoff against the police but last night's academy park also got violent and perhaps this comet for a member of the n.y.p.d. foreshadows what was to come. it's absolutely. right. yeah you heard him right that officer said that he was excited to use his nightstick and just a short while later seems other officers were sharing the same sentiments about their weapons when demonstrators started spilling over a barricade it became clear that nobody was safe from the n.y.p.d. as nightsticks or pepper spray.

i mean that clash twenty eight people were arrested and although wednesday was a violent night the movement still continues the number of arrests continue to go up acts of violence by police are on the rise but the anti-corporate protest is growing too raw story is reporting that similar demonstrations are now taking place in four hundred forty seven cities nationwide and as today washington d.c. is also one of them which brings us to our next story. today is october sixth two thousand and eleven tomorrow is going to be exactly ten years since we've been at war in afghanistan the beginning of the eleventh year also this month cuts to programs were agreed to during the spring to avert a government shutdown things like cutting aid for low income families for heating assistance are going to go into effect so starting today there is a movement to occupy freedom plaza here in washington d.c. one that was planned months ago before occupy wall street even begun and earlier today i went down to freedom plaza i caught up with kevin zeese one of the lead

organizers of october two thousand and eleven i first asked him to explain what this event what this movement in particular is all about. it's part it's a part of the occupation when we're trying bring the occupation who's the next step we have a great turnout the first day of several thousand people on a work day which is incredible i think what is what it's about is ending corporate rule we brought the people here to washington d.c. which is corporate occupied territory we want to liberate the city by bringing the people in and ending corporate rule but occupy wall street just kind of sprung up even planning this movement for months so how did that come together were you surprised that suddenly all my wall street was doing so well getting so much traction we heard about occupy wall street in july when i had busted out their story and then we join immediately endorse it and we join with those who are organizing going to some of their assemblies to help organize it went to the events as well so we've had a presence at the whole time we've always been supportive of it we saw it as synergistic and we really hope that they would succeed because we want that to be

a strong introduction to occupy washington d.c. and it has been think that the police action in new york the abuse of police action in new york really backfired against them and really helped to propel this issue to a higher level and i think now we see that result in washington d.c. even more press coverage more people turning out i suspect you'll see this grow as crime cross the country you know there's the occupy should occupy together movement last week there were sixty six people organizations signed up to do occupations here's one hundred eleven yes there's over three hundred so the american people want this they want to find a way to get control of their country having your professional organizer want to be critiqued so far about occupy wall street as being completely grassroots that there is an organizational structure no hierarchy here do you think that you can help them in that sense i do they're doing great i mean i don't know i think one of the great strengths about them is that they're not professional that there are people who just care and are coming out trying to make it happen i think be a death to that movement if the professional liberals

a lot of democratic party co-opted them that would totally and it. important to keep their independence and the two parties keep doing their own thing i need to do next you know what we really had more advantage of that we had was we had more time we had like three months more i suspect if they had three months more they would also be doing a better job as well but they're doing a great job i really are them well for what they've accomplished do you think that something is happening that the movement is becoming co-opted by maybe as it were guys laborers that move on dot org the banjo and take back the american dream conference i think all those things have the potential i don't think any cautions happened yet my hope is that the occupy movement will stay in the pen of that kind of thing i was interviewed by an australian media outlet yesterday they said that up at the rebuild the dream conference they were saying that the outcome was great now they do ally with professional left and i said that would be the end of occupy movement if they did that so i really hope they don't do that i mean the president

well left is welcome to join in the support of participate but they cannot dominate this this needs to be run from the grassroots up we're going to run our our project in the grassroots up that's how these to be the people need to move this thing we can't count on a you know we are here on the white horse we have to count ourselves to build our own movement and make our own make our own country so in that sense you could say that president obama a lot of people thought he would be the hero on a white horse but he came promising change promising to at least draw down the war in iraq down the war in afghanistan and yet this one man if anything i think it's policies really embodies the corporatism and the militarism that they are upset about that is i mean all these people here are going to vote for obama it's money well you know they're going to it winds up with a bomb i know we're not an electoral group we're staying out of politics i do think that obama's rising people's hopes and then dashing them with his corporatist and mildred's policies is one reason why the occupy movement developed i think people are looking for a real solution and not realise that this is not the election elections in fact are

elections are manipulated you know you're only allowed to choose when to quit. but approved candidate obama was well funded by wall street well funded by the health insurance industry his policies the fact that when you have a mirage election we have united states where voters only get to choose from corporate approved candidates funded by the corporations allowed on the corporate t.v. stations a lot of the corporate sponsored debates and everybody else is kept out of a fake election and that's why you have less than half americans raising a vote and of those races less than half of those vote so you people want to legislate about fifteen percent of the vote if they have a landslide that's not a legitimate government i think more people realize we need to take over this government the people could rule better than the elites we have in our front page of occupy washington d.c. dot org we want to front page seven issues where the super majority of americans support specific policies and all those policies the government's going the opposite direction if those policies are put in place this country be much better

shape the people can rule better and the elite and that's what these people feel that's they know that's we're going to build on how do you actually see that and how long do you think people are going to be willing to stay out here to occupy wall street occupy boston chicago l.a. san francisco washington d.c. what happens if you know it gets called they all go home it will evolve you know there are lots of things we can do beyond occupy town squares in the winter a lot more fun things occupying town squares in the winter but it will evolve and continue where you can see from our this is a mass independent movement demands radical change transformative change in our government in our courts in our democracy in our in our university system in our media system this is the battle right now is participatory democracy versus concentrated for the well that's the battle i look at where we are right we're right here in washington d.c. where you can say there's a big concentration of the wealth of the power capitol building and that way the last hour here is right behind us so how do you actually take about how do we fight

a two party system and i think we're doing it i think is the. getting about happening we're going to see the two party system challenge where this movement may not be in points well that's kind of soon what we're going to see down the road as we move grows we're seeing the bank parties the majority americans don't trust democratic party don't trust republican worried don't trust congress they failed us and people know that sonu all terms will develop heart head and make the most of us . now our coverage of the protest in washington continues in just a moment i'll ask if civil disobedience is the only way to america back my conversation with both the prize winning reporter and author chris hedges after the break. it was created to serve public interests to inform and to entertain. these days there's nothing easier than opening a new media outlet but there is nothing harder than revoking its license in case of

corruption. when just the. san antonio ways in trouble. it's a problem you can involve in a community where you have one large corporation controlling the daily newspaper radio stations television stations the cable outlet you know you told me that that sounds like democracy public opinion versus f.c.c. broadcast blues the marching. line. would be soo much brighter if you only bought songs from phones to christians. whose friends don't talk t.v. don't come.

now between occupy wall street in new york and the other cities it spread to as well as the october two thousand and eleven movement that just began right here in d.c. something seems to be happening in this country but what could it actually lead to more earlier i spoke with chris hedges pulitzer prize winning reporter and author of the world as it is dispatches on the myth of human progress and he was also in freedom plaza in d.c. today and how does somebody that said that civil disobedience is our only hope for the future of this country so i asked him if civil disobedience is what he thinks we're seeing right now. yeah. i think people have finally woken up to the club talk or see that we live in. the fact that the only word that these corporations know is more there are no impediments to patients reconfiguring of the united

states and the global economy into a form of neo feudalism they recognize that the political system is broken that the commercial press the judiciary the elected officials. are essentially wholly owned subsidiaries of the corporate state and we're seeing a reaction and so of course for those of us who have been calling for acts of civil disobedience and physical defiance of the corporate state it's deeply heartening what about those that are part of the corporate meeting can say especially we're seeing a lot of this on fox news or elected officials people that want to be elected officials like herman cain they're saying that this is anti-american because if you are anti corporation you're anti free markets and you're anti american you're anti freedom overall well of course i mean and who owns those networks general electric viacom rupert murdoch's news corp. disney. there's about

a half dozen corporations that control almost everything most americans see watch read or hear and they're going to make damn sure that the people who get on the airwaves that they control disseminate the message they want and that's precisely the message but i think an increasing number of americans across the political spectrum are seeing through that mendacity and i think i think the corporate states in trouble do you think that's playing into perhaps the division that we see right now with the tea party movement which you could say it was co-opted somewhere along the way that originally came out of this restoration that a lot of americans are not sure is the bailouts right then later on president obama's health care plan and is that message where. to divide the groups or the tea party have the same thing in common as occupy wall street and that coverage you know is not a tea party i think when you look closely at its origins was from the beginning a creation of the corporatists like the koch brothers and others and it functions

as america's fascist party it celebrates the gun culture the language of violence the undercurrents of racism the scapegoating of people who are vulnerable and weak within the society muslims undocumented workers homosexuals intellectuals it has all the hallmarks of a classically fascist organization including the fact that it's bankrolled by the most retro grade elements within american society and the people who bankroll it have turned anger and of course you're right that they are tapping into a legitimate rage but they have deflected that rage away from where it should be directed which is wall street towards government because corporations want government to become weaker more anemic to destroy what controls and regulations are left and there isn't of course much left so you don't blame government do you think that perhaps individual politicians people like president barack obama are they just played for the system essentially because they depend on campaign

donations they depend on the money and there's no way to get out of it i wouldn't call them slaves to the system i mean barack obama is certainly intelligent enough to understand where power lies and what he has to do in order to stay in office whose interests he has to serve and how serve those interests as a suit through asli as did george w. bush the fact is there is no way within the american political system to vote against the interests of goldman sachs it doesn't matter whether it's bush or obama or mccain or anyone else. we we live in a in a in a society that. in which the citizenry has been utterly disempowered rendered impotent. and it doesn't matter what citizens want even when we vote for instance in two thousand and six. against the war in iraq turn the control of congress back over to the democrats what does the democratic party do it continues to not only fund the war but increase troop levels in iraq by thirty thousand obamacare ends up

being two thousand pages written by corporate lobbyists the equivalent of the bank bailout bill to the pharmaceutical and insurance industry four hundred billion dollars in subsidies obama has expanded the reach of imperial wars including proxy wars in somalia yemen pakistan has not restored habeas corpus on all of the major structural issues there is no difference there's a complete continuity and of course the working class and the poor and increasingly the middle class have to pay the price and it to end it doesn't matter whether it's democrat or republican and that's the fuel of these movements so how do you see this playing out do you think i mean for example let's look back at the occupy wall street the one that's going on in new york right now yesterday they saw some of the largest numbers that they have thus far and they were met with a police presence right people were arrested there were batons that worth around there was pepper spray does that have to be violent or can it be done peaceful of the more frightened the power elite becomes the more violent. and brad cohen will

be the measures of control and the security and surveillance state in this country is profound deep immense and brutal. and growing and where is the movement going i've covered movements all around the world i covered all of the revolutions in eastern europe east germany czechoslovakia romania all the uprisings against milosevic in belgrade when movements like these begin you never know where they're going even the leaders don't know where they're going i was sitting in a room in leipzig on the afternoon of november ninth one nine hundred eighty nine with the leaders of the east german opposition and they were saying that perhaps within a year there would be free passage back and forth across the berlin wall within a few hours the wall didn't exist so i mean that's a small illustration of the fact that even the purported leaders of populist movements like this one have no idea where it's going to go we're all hoping that

it becomes so powerful and so immense that it begins to shift power away from the one percent back to the rest of the citizenry when you compare this moment to what we saw going on in the one thinks things here in america i think the sixty's were different. the status the new left in the sixty's was largely a middle class phenomenon. it was severed from labor labor did not support. the new left. including the fact the a.f.l.-cio supported nixon's war in indochina and announced to the kids in the street is hippies and i think what we're seeing now is something different i think that the commonality of interests against the corporate state is a kind of unifying factor that can bring together everyone from a libertarian people like myself who. worked in two thousand and eight for ralph nader who are still saying of course the ad they hate the word being thrown around

right now the protesters. if you look around you can see it's not just young people it's an older generation as well and you're inspiring really younger but when you say eyes their fear here let's say an economy dies finally rebound gets back on track you know my ways might we see the same thing as the sixty's that these people move into the suburbs they get jobs and they're now the ones working and i have heard that the fact is there are no jobs i mean real wages for american workers since the early seventy's have remained stagnant or decline we maintain both a level of consumption and an empire through credit that credit has dried up. is the manufacturing base has been decimated. wall street speculators and remember in the seventeenth century speculation was a crime speculators were hung. they control our financial system and and so the idea that we're going to rebound i mean we're watching the european banking system as i speak stand on the edge of collapse it's not just greece that's

going to default but most likely italy portugal spain and the repercussions of that are going to reach our shores so you know there were no restrictions placed on wall street they looted the u.s. treasury in two thousand and eight they went right back to their old games and we're headed most likely for another crash unless we stand up and stop them they'll come back and help themselves to whatever money we have left now of course this october two thousand a lot of movement is about corporatism it's also about military ism and now it's been ten full years with the war in afghanistan do you think it's ever going to end yeah because we're losing the war. the taliban controls about seventy seventy five percent of afghanistan. we have replicated the disastrous occupation of the red army where we control the urban centers sort of i mean we see attacks even in kabul . but only twenty percent of the afghans live in urban centers the rest of the country is either controlled by the taliban or in dispute and. it's an

unsustainable board. both financially and militarily both in iraq and afghanistan we bought a kind of temporary graveyard peace after one point two million iraqis were killed i spent a lot of time in iraq and i can assure you that that also over the long term is not sustainable so these are wars we can't win we've wasted what four trillion dollars absurd sums of money that could have been used to put every american in this country to work. gave us the best public education in the world as well as access to the finest health care in the world and we just poured down a rat hole chris thank you so much for joining us today. now he's spoken with the organizers of the occupy d.c. and new york events about their hopes for the movement but what's driving every day americans to get involved and he said i want to show producer for treason assented the rally to find out. you may be wondering why freedom plaza well you could say it's the center of power check this out you have the capitol about nine blocks away

and right down the street is the white house so we decided to ask people what is driving them here when the privileged people stop receiving their privilege it is that some we come out of the woodwork and start complaining i'm saying that the student loan crisis is as big a deal as the mortgage crisis in the financial crisis i don't believe that capitalism is the major problem is greed but if actually personally i want to see an end to the wars and the occupation in afghanistan and iraq and stop the drone bombing of pakistan somalia libya and yemen we have to tax or corporates we have to tax the wealthy and people have to vote people have to vote into congress the people who will do the job do you think obama is to blame for this. i don't know if he's to blame but you know certainly private interests have been fighting him more mercilessly than i've ever seen them fight any president but he hasn't done enough to fight back you would rather see this country go down the tubes then to the administration that's in power be successful for the people that were were here to

represent the one lesson that he should have learned is that he fought for us that we would fight for him the last couple years i haven't seen a democracy that is being led by what the people want i've been seeing a democracy that is not a democracy but led by a lot of corporate interests and the one percent of the people in america who hold all the wealth what would you say to that one percent. you need to learn to share join us join us be a part of the future that we're building here i want to work for my country i love my country but the people who are running are listening to me and i think they can all go south we don't need their money any way they can live without it. now we thank everybody there for sharing their thoughts with us still to come tonight we have our thursday edition of show and tell and then for giving a personal day here in the last week the answer to. moving you get all discussed next that anthony randolph needs.

the top stories on t.v. all taken no give the new york police drive the demonstrators with songs and pepper spray arresting doesn't decide to huge national support for the anti wall street protests is the biggest turnout of the three weeks of demonstrations against america. i woman held up as i'm also by the syrian anti-government movement that she was reportedly beheaded live and well state t.v. eat this comes of the drugs have the death toll from the rest now stands at twenty eight nine hundred. euro zone finance chiefs are ready to bankroll they don't have as well being as starvation died for the greek economy that will maintain the rage on the streets of athens public sector a nationwide strike over low pay and pensions has paralyzed the country closing schools and. go back to washington studio now for the second part of the.